June 2020

Dear St. Mark’s Family,

We hope you are well, safe, and enjoying the beginning of summer. We are writing today to let you know about plans that are in the works for returning to the St. Mark’s building while living with the COVID virus.

Phased Return

At the beginning of COVID, many of us had mental images of all returning at once to our church building in celebration, but we are now recognizing that returning will happen in phases.

What future we will find ourselves in depends not only on the behavior of the virus, but on the actions of people—as individuals, as churches, communities, and governments. The way forward will not be a matter of following a timetable, but of faithfully discerning the signs of the times and responding accordingly. It has always been that way for the church: “You have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown….”

Return Team

Please understand that, for at least the next year, we anticipate our lives will be shaped by the timeline set by COVID-19. With that as our basis, our new Return Team met for the first time this past week to review the Chicago Metro Synod’s document on physically returning to our building. Based on the Synod’s recommendations, plus the Center for Disease Control and our state and federal government guidelines, we have begun to outline what returning will look like at St. Mark’s. We have been in conversations with medical experts and local pastors, and we are developing a specific plan for St. Mark’s that we will share with you when it is complete.

Guidelines

In this first of many regular communications about re-opening the building, we want to highlight the four primary areas of concern for which we are writing guidelines:

1. Sanitation/Cleaning Procedures (ensuring the building is safe)
2. Plan for Entry, Flow, Seating and Exiting Measures
3. Worship & Liturgical Modifications
4. Training in Oversight Procedures (i.e., contact tracing, screening, compliance)

When we have these four areas of the plan in place, you will be hearing more from the Return Team. Having these key plans will also allow us to consider inviting outside groups and meetings back into the building.

Prayers

We pray for a spirit of discernment, for wisdom and patience. We pray for researchers and medical professionals; for the planners; for the ill and recovering; for those grieving and struggling with the weightiness of these times. We pray for the watchers and the wonderers, and all those who wait upon the Lord.

May the Holy One, our Hope, our Teacher, our Redeemer and Truth guide our decisions, keep us in good health and give us patience.

Pastor Charisse and Pastor Patrick

Return Team

St. Mark’s Church Council